Cover Crush: A (Dead) Thing Like Me by E.G. Young

When Maria Ingrande Mora tells you to read something, you read it. That is how A (Dead) Thing Like Me by E.G. Young landed on our radar (and us on the street team)! A teenage ghost named Hot Dog haunts a hot dog cart outside the Met, gets accidentally summoned via Ouija board to Florida, and meets a grieving girl named Logan who can actually see her. Queer, darkly funny, camp and creep all at once, and described as gorgeously strange by people who have actually read it. The cover alone, a coffin in neon pink with a Ouija planchette and a third eye and HELLO and GOODBYE on either side, should tell you everything you need to know about the vibe. Out in August!

A (Dead) Thing Like Me

by E.G. Young
Published by: Holiday House
on August 18, 2026
Genres: LGBTQIA+, Paranormal, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

A teenage ghost in love with life becomes bound to the house of the grieving artist who summoned her via Ouija board in this darkly funny YA paranormal.

One hot dog with banana peppers. That’s all Hot Dog wants. An invisible teenage ghost, she haunts a food cart outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Until one night, she’s accidentally summoned via Ouija board to a house party in Florida . . . where finally finally finally, people can see her.

All the party guests scatter, except for Logan: the cool artist girl who doesn’t just see Hot Dog, she actually wants to talk to her. Logan, who isn’t scared of Hot Dog’s stitched mouth or chattering dress. Logan, who’s grieving her own dead BFF—and called Hot Dog by mistake.

Hot Dog wants to prove it’s not a mistake.

She can be Logan’s new best friend. She can go to Logan’s Halloween party. She can eat snacks, have sleepovers, and hang out. She can definitely smile without scaring people. Exactly like a real, human girl.

There’s one problem: Hog Dog’s not a real, living human girl, and something in Logan’s sprawling house knows it. It scratches like rats in the walls. It opens a secret door in Logan’s attic. It wants to drag Hot Dog into the nothingness where dead things go. And unless Hot Dog can confront the dark truth of how she died, it will unmake Logan too.

Gorgeously strange and stunningly written, this YA paranormal masterfully melds camp and creep into a beyond-the-grave coming-of-age.